Promoting Education and the Performing Arts via the Cloud

Friends of the Arts Foundation (FOTAF) is a nonprofit committed to spreading the joy of the performing arts to more people in Thailand. Its programs encompass building interest in the arts through festivals and performances, as well as nurturing talented young artists.

But FOTAF is not solely about the performing arts. Ultimately, it aims to provide a well-rounded education to Thai students, by providing opportunities for online learning and cultural exchange with the rest of the world.

To provide this, FOTAF first needed to have the right infrastructure in place—one that facilitates effective communications with the public, while being easy to manage and scalable. Unfortunately, the on-premise system FOTAF had in place was unable to meet these needs.

Moving its operations to the cloud with Microsoft Azure has since improved FOTAF’s communications with the public and enhanced its operations. The nonprofit now hosts its website on Microsoft Azure and uses Azure SQL Server to manage its database, enabling it to better tailor its engagements with members of the public, volunteers, and donors.

FOTAF’s new website hosted on Microsoft Azure

More importantly, moving to the cloud has empowered FOTAF to put new initiatives in motion. These include a distance learning portal that would provide approximately 400,000 Thai students access to a wide variety of e-learning modules based on materials from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“FOTAF is not only about the arts. Our aim is to provide a well-rounded education to a new generation of students in Thailand,” said Kim MacGregor, Co-founder and Director (Strategic Planning) of FOTAF. “Thanks to Microsoft and its cloud-based tools, we are confident that our new initiatives will take off successfully.”

Learn how FOTAF enhanced its engagement with the performing arts community with Microsoft Azure. For more information on how Microsoft Cloud Offerings can help your nonprofit, visit www.microsoft.com/nonprofit.